Sponsored athlete Aaron Karitis has been up in Valdez guiding for H2o Guides for most of the season. Checkout what he has been up to.
This is the spot to find up-to-date info on team members, upcoming events and Mt. Bachy freeride media. For more information on the actual mountain please visit the Mt. Bachelor Website.
Joey Slaying It
Team Athlete Joey van der Meer at it as usual and currently repping a new sponsor, 9thward Skis, congrats Joey! Checkout his profile for more videos and pics.
Colin Clarke Shakes Up the Ride Shakedown
Mar 14, 2010 - Snoqualmie Pass, WA - RIDE Shakedown 2010 Qualifiers
Mt Bachelor Athlete Colin Clarke showed up at the first ever RIDE Shakedown in the USA not knowing what to expect. Competition was tough in the premier international snowboarding event where ams earn the chance to ride against the pros.Top 16 men and the top 5 women advance to the Finals.
Clarke rallied to 3rd place in the Qualifiers with a solid 1080 tail grab on the jump and 50/50 on the close out rail. He advanced to the Finals but didn't quite make it into the top 3. No worries for Colin, he was happy to compete and make it that far.
"It was an amazing set up and riding with pros was unbelievable.I even had the chance to rally snowmobiles up Mt Baker to film in the back country after the contest was over. I was stoked! "
RIDE Shakedown 2010 Qualifiers. 1st place: Manuel Diaz. 2nd place: Tanner Davidson. 3rd place: Colin Clarke.
Signing autographs after the Shakedown
Where in the World is Max Warbington?
Max Warbington shot us an email the other day giving us an update, because, let's face it, it's almost impossible to keep track of the Warbingtons.
Here's what Max said:
Back from Meadows Rev Tour, super fun times, except for the 3rd year in row of the dreaded "Finals Fog"! I ended up on the podium in slope (3rd!), which is good since it'll qualify me for Grand Prix Slope Style next season.
Rev Tour Slope Prelims from Kris Jamieson (Jaymo) on Vimeo.
I'm heading to Park City in April to do the PBRJ (Volcom's Peanut Butter and Rail Jam) at Brighton and hopefully do some filming too! I'm also invited back to Snowboarder Magazine's photo shoot, The Launch. This will be the 3rd year for the event and my second time there. (The Launch is when the world's best snowboarders under the age of 18 gather for fun times and to get shots by the best photographers).
We hit a pretty sweet hip up at bachy today like dusk and got some super cool shots!
Tyler Orton on the photo cred.
This is a super loose edit from Hood.
St. Paddy's Day in the HOOD from Tre Squad on Vimeo.
And this is a super loose edit from Bachy haha!!
Crazy Spring Break Day one from Tre Squad on Vimeo.
***Max
Ben Watts and ESPN
Slope style
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Michael Schmitt/ESPN RISE Magazine
Since his first time on the slopes, Ben Watts has been special. At only 16, he's on the 2010 U.S. Snowboarding Rookie Team and competes on the Winter Dew Tour and U.S. Grand Prix.
This story appeared in the Oregon edition of the Jan./Feb. ESPN RISE Magazine.
Alan Watts had never really been a big fan of snow. So he was understandably a little uneasy when he went to pick up his 7-year-old son, Ben, at a snowboarding lesson and didn't see him coming down the slope with his class.
The snow was falling at a good clip and visibility was low that day at Mt. Bachelor, so Alan feared something had happened. The instructor put Alan at ease by telling him Ben had been moved to the intermediate class because he'd had lessons before and was clearly better than the group he'd been placed in.
Only this was Ben's first lesson.
"It came to him real easily," says Alan.
Ben Watts didn't stop there. Since picking up his board, Watts has quickly become one of the top young talents in the country. Only 16, the Summit sophomore earns close to six figures a year as a professional snowboarder and is a member of the 2010 U.S. Snowboarding Rookie Team.
"With his skills, you're thinking he could be 18 or 19," says Dave Reynolds, who coached Watts with the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation snowboard program.
Watts originally was more into skateboarding. His dad built a 4-foot ramp for him in the backyard when he was 8 and Watts began entering skating competitions. A number of Watts' fellow skaters received free gear for the events, so his father put a highlight tape together and sent it out to skating companies with the hopes of netting a similar deal. At the end of the package was some snowboarding footage.
The company that showed the most interest in Watts ended up being top snowboard manufacturer Burton, which thought Watts had so much promise as a snowboarder that it gave him a sponsorship deal two months after he turned 10.
"It was a really exciting time for me," says Watts. "That was when snowboarding took off. I didn't really think snowboarding could be such a big thing for me."
Watts trained with the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation from age 8 to 13 and went undefeated locally in slopestyle snowboarding while losing only one competition in halfpipe. He also captured slopestyle and halfpipe titles at the 2006 European Open in Switzerland and a halfpipe crown at the same event in 2007.
Michael Schmitt for ESPNRISE.com
At just 13, Watts raked in top-tier sponsors like Burton, Nike 6.0, Monster Energy Drink and Oakley.
From there, companies wanted to pay Watts to ride. At 13, he teamed up with Burton, Nike 6.0, Oakley and Monster Energy Drink to officially become a pro rider.
His first big win as a pro came in 2007 at the USA Snowboard Association Nationals at Northstar in Lake Tahoe, Calif. Competing in the open division, Watts took the overall title after finishing first in slopestyle and third in halfpipe.
Watts wasn't exactly in a celebratory mood after the win, however. Earlier in the week, his friend Tyler Eklund fell while practicing and was paralyzed from the neck down. Immediately after the event, Watts donated his winnings to a fund to help Eklund's family.
"He's always been a good friend of mine," says Watts. "It was really heartbreaking to see it happen."
"I just went off and cried a little because I was so proud of him," adds his father.
It was a pretty impressive show of maturity for a 13-year-old during a difficult time. But for Watts, it was nothing out of the ordinary. He's never really acted his age. Unlike most teenagers, he doesn't play video games. He's a big fan of architecture, and in particular he's fascinated by skyscrapers like the Sears Tower and the Empire State Building, both of which he's visited.
Instead of today's top musical artists, Watts prefers listening to legends like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and The Who. He got his first electric guitar for his 11th birthday and has also learned to play the acoustic guitar and piano. He's written and recorded more than 20 of his own songs.
"Music really serves as a relaxation, a way for me to communicate my thoughts and my feelings even if nobody is there to listen," says Watts. "It's a completely different aspect of my life that's separate from snowboarding."
Attending Summit (Bend, Ore.) during the fall and spring -- Watts takes online classes while competing in the winter -- adds a degree of normalcy to his life. The sponsorships, money and media attention haven't fazed him.
"He's almost embarrassed by the attention he gets," says his dad.
"I'm just a normal kid," adds Watts.
Albeit one who's competing on the Winter Dew Tour and in the U.S. Grand Prix. Last year, his best finish was a sixth-place showing in halfpipe at the Grand Prix in Killington, Vt.
And he's getting better by the day. He can already do a 900-degree spin off all four angles of snowboard spins -- frontside, backside, switch backside and cab.
"When something is put in front of him, he can figure it out pretty dang quick," says Reynolds.
With the U.S. Rookie Team, Watts has had the privilege of learning from legendary snowboarding coach Bud Keene, who helped transform Shaun White into a snowboarding superstar.
Clearly the future is bright for Watts, and he's already accomplished quite a bit for someone his age. But perhaps his greatest feat to date is getting his dad, who once hated the snow, to snowboard regularly.
"There have been some priceless moments," says Watts.
And there are sure to be many more to come.
Bend Athletes Take Over the the 1st Stop of the Burton Am Series at Meadows
The Burton Am Series 2010 at Mt Hood Meadows last weekend was the first time this season that some Bend snowboarders had been in a pipe all year, but that didn't stop them from delivering runs that gave 2 riders qualifying spots in the US Open and some big bucks.
MtB athlete Jonny Malanga was throwing down the biggest airs in the pipe, but it was the young Ben Ferguson that took home the $750 first place finish and qualified for the Open.
12 ladies competed and it was MtB's own Katie Williams who took first in pipe, second in slope & best trick in slope, plus scored a spot to the US Open. Ashley Thornton took third place in both events and became $500 richer by the end of the weekend.
Women's Slope Style.
Burton Am Series 2010 Mt Hood Meadows Men’s Halfpipe Results:
1. Ben Ferguson
2. Johnny Malanga
3. Matt Guess
Best Trick: Matt Guess – Crippler 720 Truckdriver
Burton Am Series 2010 Mt Hood Meadows Women’s Halfpipe Results:
1. Katie Williams
2. Raelynd Tarnove
3. Ashley Thorton
Best Trick: Niki Kole – Ally Oop hand plant
Burton Am Series Mt Hood Meadows Men’s Slopestyle Results:
1. Skylar Thorton
2. Rick Millet
3. Ryan Linnert
Best Trick: Ryan Linnert - Backside 720 Truckdriver
Burton Am Series Mt Hood Meadows Women’s Slopestyle Results:
1. Kumara Kelley
2. Katie Williams
3. Ashley Thorton
Best Trick: Katie Williams – Frontside 540 Indy
Summit Goodies
Tapper shooting some photos of Mt Bachelor Sponsored Athlete, Aaron Karitis ripping down Summit this past weekend.
Photos taken by: Jon Tapper
